The Love & Marriage Unit: Upper-Intermediate

The Love & Marriage Unit: Upper-Intermediate

[*Note to teachers: Encourage students to think abstractly. Avoid having them scrutinize their own relationships in depth.]

Lesson 1 of 3: Reasons for Love Lesson Plan

ESL Lesson Plan: Warm-up (Pair Work)

1.  Do you know the story of how your parents met?

2.  Do you have any possessions that you can say you love? What are they?

3.  Do opposites attract? Do we like people who are similar or dissimilar to us?

4.  Do you believe human pheromones exist?

Love: Introduction to Key Philosophical Issues (read as group)

1) Justification: What justifies falling in love with a particular person? Is there a reason? What do you say when your partner asks, “Why do you love me?”

2) Interchangeability: Is there something about your partner that makes him/her unique and incomparable to others? If your partner had a doppelganger (an identical twin), would you have any reason to prefer your partner to the doppelganger? Or could you swap them?

3) Constancy: since the appearance and character of a person changes over time, what justifies continuing to love someone as he or she changes and becomes different?

ESL Lesson Plan: Discussion (Pair Work)

Discuss answers to the issues above. When finished, share your ideas with the class.

Possible Answers: Three Theories

1. The Quality View: You love a person because of the qualities he or she possesses, e.g. you love your wife because she is beautiful or kind.

What do you think?

Criticisms: Regarding interchangeability, this would mean that if you find someone more beautiful or kinder, then you should dump your partner for that other person. Secondly, a person changes over time. If you love her because of her beauty, then you’d no longer have a reason to love her once she’s no longer describable as beautiful (e.g. due to old age or an accident).

2. The Relationship View: The personal history and relationship we have with someone makes them unique. This is a reason to continue loving your partner and not someone else.

What do you think?

Criticisms: This view gives a reason for continuing to love someone, but it does not explain how two people fall in love. Also it does not account for the fact that some relationships are superior to others. Maybe the grass is greener on the other side of the fence? Why wouldn’t someone abandon their partner for someone they could have a better relationship with?

3. The No-Reasons View: Love is an enigma. We do not know why love appears or disappears. There may or may not be a reason.

What do you think?

Criticisms: It seems absurd. Choosing your partner may be the most crucial choice a person makes in his or her life. To say that there is no reason why we love another suggests we don’t even really make this choice (or if we do, we don’t understand how).

Key Vocabulary: Match the words with their meaning as used in the article.

pheromone
justify (verb)
interchangeable (adj)
doppelganger
swap (verb)
dump sb (verb)
superior
account for sth (phrasal verb)
enigma
absurd
crucial / can be exchanged
exchange sth for something else
chemical signal used by an animal to attract a mate
end a relationship with sb (note: informal expression)
of higher quality, rank, or status
provide an explanation or reason for something
a double of a living person
extremely important
ridiculous, silly
provide an explanation or reason for something
mystery, puzzle

Master the language: Connect the below ideas to make a sentence. (good for homework)

government / crush / uprising / e.g. The government plans to crush the uprising.
pheromone / communicate
market / swap / interchangeable
dump / doppelganger
account for / absence
enigma / love
excuse / break up / absurd
crucial / justify
superior / candidate

ESL Lesson Plan: Role-play #1 (Pair Work: each student only reads his/her role)

Student A: / You are unmarried, in your late 30s. Your parents want you to find someone, so they have sent you to a matchmaker (Student B). Answer Student B’s questions.
Student B: / You are a matchmaker. You want to find someone for Student A. Get a list of his/her requirements for a partner. Have him/her consider: appearance, character, age, financial status, and anything else you can think of.

ESL Lesson Plan: Qualities (Pair Work)

Which of the below things do you value in a partner? Circle 1 for very important, 2 for slightly important, and 3 for unimportant. When finished, compare your answers with a partner.

beauty / 1 2 3 / intelligence / 1 2 3 / confidence / 1 2 3
sense of humor / 1 2 3 / career / 1 2 3 / ‘romanticness’ / 1 2 3
height / 1 2 3 / religion / 1 2 3 / good manners / 1 2 3
financial status / 1 2 3 / character / 1 2 3 / other: / 1 2 3

ESL Lesson Plan: Role-play #2 (each student only reads his/her role)

Student A: / You believe love is an emotion that can’t be controlled. You are sure of this because, against your will, you have fallen in love with your college professor. He/she is 60 years old. You’ve been seeing each other secretly for half a year. Now tell your parents (Student B) about her/him.
Student B: / Student A is your son/daughter. She/he is a first-year college student. She/he has asked to speak with you about something important.

ESL Lesson Plan: Discussion Questions

1)  “The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.” What does this mean?

2)  How do people typically fall out of love? Does this tell us why people fall in love?

3)  Does a person’s love for his/her partner differ from his/her love for a friend, child, or car? How so?

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Lesson plan copyright Matthew Barton of Englishcurrent.com

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